California Road Trip -- 5th and Final Stop: Hotel Monaco (SF)

For our 5th and, sadly, final stop of our California road trip, we stayed in the Hotel Monaco in San Francisco, just off of Union Square.  Unfortunately, San Francisco does not put its best foot forward in August.  While the rest of the country bakes in the summer sun, clouds descend on San Francisco and make for a dreary, chilly month.  Neither my wife nor I packed warm clothes, so it took all of one hour before we ducked into a store for some warm weather gear.  After baking in the Napa sun, it was quite a shock to be hit with a weather forecast of 50 degrees and gloomy.

But, as I've come to expect from the Kimpton Hotels, the staff at the Hotel Monaco greeted us with a smile.  We spoke the "secret word" from the Kimpton summer twitter promotion and received coupons for free breakfast -- getting freebies is always a great way to start a hotel stay!  The room, unfortunately, was on the small side and, unlike what we found at the Standard in New York, was not laid out to maximize space.  Rather than a closet, there was a huge standing chest, which took up a good portion of the back wall.  But, we were in San Francisco to walk the city and not to stay in the room, so we wouldn't let the room size deter us from having a great stay.

Although the weather didn't totally cooperate, we loved the trip to San Francisco.  Those energetic enough to walk the hills of the city are rewarded with absolutely amazing views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Bay Bridge, Alcatraz, Coit Tower and the other great sites.  We spent the day walking around Golden Gate Park (which is filled with museums, drum circles, a botanical garden, tea garden and acres of green space), Haight-Ashbury, Sunset, Marina, Japantown, Chinatown, Pacific Heights and everything in between.  

My dream would be to stay in San Francisco and do a daily food tour -- the quantity and quality of great restaurants is just astounding, from the high-end American, French and Vietnamese (Slanted Door is out of this world) to farmers' markets and holes in the wall, you could eat and eat for days on end and never get sick of the food!

We only had about a day and a half to tour the city, so we did our own walking tour, sampling small wine bars, pizza at A16 and snacks along the way.  Although the weather didn't put the city in the greatest light, we had a wonderful time nonetheless.  As we boarded the plane back to DC, we discussed our plan for our next trip back out west.

Standard Hotel -- New York -- It's all about location!

Although there is one more road trip stop to be posted (Hotel Monaco - San Francisco), I wanted to post a review of my stay at the Standard Hotel (New York) this past weekend.  The Standard puts a lot of time and money into creating an "aura of cool" -- a newsletter, multiple websites and an active twitter account -- that is obvious the minute one pulls up to the hotel.  There is a huge KAWS sculpture of a mouse with its head in its hands sitting out front and a busy outdoor area complete with ice cream vendor.  Once inside the small lobby, you walk to one of three podiums to check in with employees who try just too hard to look too cool.  But, if you can get past your instinct that the hotel is operated by that crowd you hated in high school, you realize that the Standard is a great hotel with an amazing location.

The rooms are relatively small (even for NY standards) but are laid out well so that every inch of space is utlized -- the platform bed is up against the wall separating the bedroom from the bathroom, the thin flat panel TV is mounted on the wall.  Somehow they find room for a bench and table.  But, you haven't come to the Standard for the room -- you've come for the location.  My room had floor-to-ceiling windows with views of the Highline, Empire State Building and the water.  You could spend hours just people-watching from on high. 

The Standard is situated right in the heart of the Meatpacking District, which is filled with too many bars and restaurants to count and plenty of shopping (from small boutiques to international names such as Diane von Furstenburg right down the street).  You could have a memorable New York experience without going more than a few blocks from the hotel all weekend.  Or, you could just stay in the hotel -- pre-drink in the beer garden, party all night at Le Bain up on the rooftop and end at the Standard Grill (open until 4am).  If you do decide to venture out, the Standard is just a few blocks from a subway stop that will take you straight to Times Square and, if like me you were headed to the US Open, one transfer away from the 7 train to Queens.